The Arizona Republic has come up with an interesting way to determine who will be the Cardinals starting quarterback next season.

After the disaster of last season – Derek Anderson, Max Hall and John Skelton all spent some time at starting QB – the Cardinals undoubtedly will be looking for a way to upgrade that position this offseason.

The newspaper has come up with (for-entertainment-purposes-only) odds to try to figure out who will take over next season, and there are some intriguing names on that list.

Including Ravens backup QB Marc Bulger (2-to-1), Denver's Kyle Orton (8-1), Philadelphia's Kevin Kolb (15-1), Washington's Donovan McNabb (150-1) and former Titans QB Vince Young (1,000-1). Interestingly, the paper believes one of three rookies who have declared for the draft – Cam Newton, Ryan Mallett and Blaine Gabbert – has a better chance of starting at 70-1 than Hall does at 100-1.

Jim Caldwell called a really dumb timeout against the Jets. It might have cost his team a chance to continue advancing in the playoffs. But Bill Polian doesn't think so, and he called the timeout a "moot point" on his radio show Monday, according to Big Blue Shoe at Stampede Blue. More interesting though -- Polian offered a different reason for the timeout -- he said the defense was trying to get set. That's certainly more rational than Caldwell's "we wanted to make them snap the ball" excuse, but then Polian apparently went off on a tangent about how he thought the Colts were done after Antonio Cromartie's return, barring an interception, fumble or sack. Which, um, well, no -- Nick Folk needed a 50-plus-yard field goal to win before the deep ball to Braylon Edwards. So, yeah, this timeout thing's getting awkward.

Speaking of awkward head coaches, Wade Phillips thinks he's probably done as a head coach, because of "perception." Which is actually a good point, because Wade's 82-61 as a head coach, and yet people think he's a goof, mainly because of his 1-5 playoff record. Poor Wade.

Brad Childress' departure from the Minnesota Vikings organization certainly doesn't mean that Wednesdays aren't FavreDays still -- and so it's now Leslie Frazier handling the press conference questions of reporters while every network in the world livestreams his answers regardless of what else in the world is happening.

Frazier, who's immensely more enjoyable to listen to for 20 minutes than Chilly, said that there hasn't been a decision made on whether Brett Favre will start Sunday. In fact, he said that a decision probably won't come until Sunday, as the Vikings try to figure out if No. 4 can play. He also said that Favre won't start just to keep his streak alive.

"No, I don't think we approach it that way," Frazier said. "Either he can go or he can't go. And when he goes in there, we're of the expectation that he can play for four quarters. That would be the plan. So we wouldn't go into it, get a start, get a couple reps and get out, no."

So, even though Favre hasn't thrown a ball this week and even though he can't lift his arm very far and even though the Vikings offense went ballistic on the Bills once Tavaris Jackson entered the game on Sunday, Favre still gives Minnesota the "best chance to win." Presumably.

But does he?

The upside of Tavaris is that he's extremely mobile, he has a cannon arm and he's absolutely fresh right now. The downside of Tavaris is that he's inexperienced and he frequently makes terrible, inexcusable mistakes.

This differentiates him from Favre in that, um, he's not experienced. Oh, and that he won't be publicly upset if he can't start his 299th consecutive game.

That is to say, if the Vikings were playing to win, they would start Tavaris over Favre. And, actually, if they're playing to make sure that Favre doesn't get literally killed on Sunday, they'll start Tavaris -- the Giants pass rush isn't just formidable, it's terrifying, and they're going to get their hands on the Vikings quarterback, whoever it is.

Look, some of Tavaris' success on Sunday came from two things: having Adrian Peterson and having Sidney Rice. Because they played the Bills, Peterson was able to soften up the defense and make Jackson's job easier. And because Rice is as stud, some of the throws Jackson made went from jump-balls to big gains.

But, hey, that's not so different from Favre being under center anyway.

****So, this Cardinals quarterback situation is just a total nightmare isn't it? It's terrible for the fans and it's probably worse for Ken Wisenhunt, who absolutely knows that there's nothing he can do in order to improve his team's chances of winning over the next couple of weeks -- either he starts raw rookie John Skelton, or he keeps throwing Derek Anderson to the wolves.

There's a sound argument to be made from the perspective of "Skelton CAN'T be worse than Anderson -- just play him!" But there's also a sound argument to be made for the other side, as well. Because, you know, if you start Skelton and he gets hurt or stinks the joint up, you're wasting money on Anderson on the bench and getting the same result, with the possibility of hurting Skelton's development long term.

The moral of the story? You should always sneak into Kurt Warner's and do your best God voice to convince him to rejoin the team regardless of how morally corrupt that is make sure you have reasonably viable options at quarterback.

****The notion of a "starting running back" is a little outdated in this two-back world we live in, but it still prominently exists. Look no further than the Giants situation where Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs have flopped several times as the "starter." Jacobs, who regained the role recently, will continue to start "at this point," according to Tom Coughlin.

The bottom line is that Coughlin's going to keep going with the hot hand, he's going to pound both of these guys with his wide receiver corps banged up, and he'll use the "starter" thing as motivation for both Bradshaw and Jacobs.

And that, right there, is something that deserves a ton of praise -- Coughlin hasn't been scared to make change and motivate these guys in 2010, and that's why the Giants, instead of continually skidding after losses to Philadelphia and Dallas, are tied with the Eagles for the NFC East lead.

****

There's been some clamoring for Tim Tebow in Denver. After all, Josh McDaniels is gone and let's see what we've got, people! Unleash the Tebow!!! (Sorry, got excited there for a second.) This is silly.

Eric Studesville needs to win and he needs to win quickly and he needs to do it in a fashion that shows he can win next year as well (with Kyle Orton and his motley crue of wideouts), if he hopes to have a shot at the Broncos gig in 2011. It seems unlikely that he gets that job anyway, but not less likely than Tebow blossoming into a starting NFL quarterback over the next three weeks. So: upside is you have a guy who's not as good as Orton (yet). Downside: Studesville kills any chance of being a candidate in Denver and simultaneously sinks Tebow's trade value even further for next year.

****Pants on Fire! (You see, because we examine hot seats)

John Fox: He's gone. His house, according to people I talked to recently, has been on the market for months. The only question is whether or not Frazier and Jason Garrett in Dallas can lose their jobs in the next three weeks to present attractive openings for a new gig.

Mike Singletary: MUnless the Niners rip off a miracle run, he's toast. And he clearly knows that. Why else would he make the flip-flopping of Troy Smith and Alex Smith "week-to-week"?

Jeff Fisher: Seems kind of crazy, but at this point, if you're Fisher, why would you stay? Your crazy old boss clearly prefers a guy like Vince Young to you (the guy who's been there, winning, for 17 years!) and walking out now, even with the Titans struggling mightily, would mean an easy opportunity to land another head coaching job.

Norv Turner: Once upon about two weeks ago, Turner might have had a shot at running the table and making an argument for COY award. Instead, the Chargers came out completely flat against Oakland, at home, as 13.5-point favorites. If the same thing happens (only with a 7.5 line) against KC, Norv better watch out.

Gary Kubiak: Primetime struggles against Baltimore (at home, on Monday night) could make things awkward for Kubes. Fortunately, that Denver job's open, so he could potentially "leave" Houston for a "homecoming" and just work something out with Texans ownership where they don't fire him. (And then hire Fisher! The drama! The hatred! DO IT!)

Tony Sparano: There are so many coaches getting canned or sitting squarely on the heater that Sparano gets overlooked, but following up a blowout of Oakland with a terrible loss to Cleveland means he has to beat Buffalo and Detroit at home to close out the season at 8-8, as the Fins travel to the Jets and the Pats as well in the next four weeks. Losing one of those has the makings of a canning.

Most of it is his fault after he made himself an Internet sensation with his response to perfectly fair questions from an Arizona Republic reporter about his sideline demeanor while Arizona was taking a pounding vs. San Francisco on Monday Night Football (he and Deuce Latui were spotted laughing on the bench).

But CBS’ own Phil Simms has taken the side of Anderson.

“Wow, what an injustice to Derek Anderson,” Simms said this week. “He should be upset about it. Players make a lot of faces when they’re in games. Now we have to go by the manual how you’re supposed to have a face during the game? Open it up and it says when you lose be sure you do nothing but have a sad face. To stand on the sidelines and be questioned because maybe there was a hint of a smile on your face when you were losing?

“It can happen for a lot of reasons. Did I ever smile on the sidelines when we were losing? I’m sure I did. I probably looked at one of my teammates and went, ‘Wow, I can’t believe after all the work we’ve done we’ve got ourselves in this situation.’ It can be a smirk or a smile. There could be a thousand reasons for it. It’s amazing. Fans get upset if a player acts normal after a loss. How could you be acting that way after you just lost? Hey, you work hard, you do your job, you accept it, and you go back to work and hope you can do something about it and change it.”

Sure, the “Hey, my teammates were just trying to cheer me up during a difficult time” defense would have been perfectly valid if that’s what Anderson had said in the postgame presser. Instead, he went berserk and made this a much bigger story than it needed to be. Which, after apologizing Wednesday, he seemed to realize.

Click here if you’re interested in reading up on the Chargers ownership and possible relocation issues. The AEG rumors are interesting…you have to think AEG would know how to get a stadium built, right?

He was upset that Jon Gruden caught him laughing, and more upset that Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic kept asking him why he was laughing on the sideline. On Wednesday, he apologized.

"I'd like to apologize for my actions after the game," There's a more professional manner I could have handled that. I wasn't raised that way. My mom and my dad didn't raise me to act like that in times of adversity. I obviously was very frustrated by what happened during the game and I let the emotions get the best of me."

There was a TON made of Anderson's blowup -- people either rushed to Anderson's defense (how DARE a reporter question his dedication and antagonize him like that?!?) or to Somer's ("Um, Derek, you get played to play football -- if you're losing, don't smile.").

Even some famous people got in on the act. Like, say, Magic Johnson, who said would have cut Anderson for smiling like that.

And Dwight Howard, who mocked the speech following the Magic's game on Tuesday.

So, yeah, come down on it either way you want, but we can move past it now -- Anderson freaked out and probably overreacted a little bit and he's apologized, so it's time to just get ready for the next game (St. Louis at home, with a chance to get even more awkward!) and get this man a Coors Light commercial.

On Tuesday, though, coach Ken Wisenhunt stuck for both he and Deuce Lutui, at whom Anderson was smiling.

"Those guys have worked hard, they want to win," Wisenhunt said, via the Arizona Republic. "I'm not going to read too much into a couple of seconds of what you see on video. I'm going to base it on what I know about those guys and their demeanor and their approach."

That's a pretty fair assessment -- even if Anderson did FLIP OUT and scream at Kent Somers, it's not like smiling on the football field, even amid a nasty public beatdown, is worth cutting someone and moving on, provided they're at least trying.

Anyway, some good news: Anderson's shoddy performance Monday (15/35, 196 yards, no TDs, one pick) won't cost him his job according to Coach Ken Wisenhunt on Tuesday.

Wisenhunt indicated that Anderson gives the Cardinals the "best chance to win" and while that's debatable given his level of play, it's at least excusable because the other options involve throwing either John Skelton or Max Hall under the bus.

The Cardinals are probably out of contention (though not technically) and risking the development of those guys when Anderson's available just seems like a silly proposition. So in good news -- five more weeks of really awkward postgame interviews!

Late on Monday night, amid an embarrassing loss to San Francisco, Derek Anderson got caught laughing with lineman Deuce Lutui. In his postgame press conference, Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic asked him why he was laughing (and Somers actually tweeted about asking him before the presser). Anderson's response was straight out of a Coors Light commercial and we've got video.

Here's the transcription for those that are curious:

"It wasn't funny. I wasn't laughing about anything ... Okay, that's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. I'm not laughing about it -- you think this is funny, I take this f----- serious. Real serious. I put my heart and soul into this s--- every single week. I'm just telling you what I do right now what I do every single week! Every single week I put my freaking heart and soul into this! I study my a-- off! I don't go out there and laugh! It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't want to go out there and get embarrassed in front of everybody. I'm telling you right now -- Deuce and I were talking!"

Somers then tried to ask another question and Anderson just yelled "I'm done!" and stormed away from the podium.